Remember how a few days back, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap had said it was painfully difficult to work with actor Abhay Deol during Dev D? Well, we might know the reason why. Abhay, who came up with the concept to recreate the classic Bengali novel Devdas, had a certain vision for the film.
The actor had approached several directors for the movie but they rejected it saying it was too artsy. However, Anurag decided to direct this modern version of the original ‘Devdas’. In his recent Insta post, Abhay explained how after reading Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel, he had decided to redefine the female characters as strong, independent women.
Describing the male character he wrote,
“I could see that the character was a chauvinist, a misogynist, entitled, and arrogant. Yet he had been romanticized for decades!”
Abhay explained how the women in the novel were strong characters. He felt that they shouldn’t be defined by the man they love, or by men in general. He wrote,
“The women on the other hand were strong and had integrity, but there was still that expectation for them to love their man no matter what. I wanted to change that. I wanted to empower them, shed the image of the “good, devoted, woman”.
In Abhay’s version of the story, Paro calls out Dev’s faults and puts him in his place. In fact, Dev, who becomes a drug dealer, gets shot by the police and dies outside Paro’s house. And, Chanda on the other hand, is a proud East European high-class escort. Abhay wanted to go for the “prostitute with the heart of gold” theme from the book.
However, Anurag felt the film needed a happy ending. So, in the actual movie, Dev & Chanda fell in love. Abhay had to go with the flow as his vision was too dark. However, he was not really satisfied with the end result. Abhay has used #MakingWhatBollywoodWouldnt to explain the making of some of his other movies as well.
What do you think about his intriguing alternative ending? Tell us!
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